The former Ravens and Rams center is now making headlines with gestures like dumping 40,000 pounds of sweet potatoes onto a lawn next to the University of North Carolina, his alma mater, to be bagged and sent to local food pantries.

Brown’s current venture, First Fruits Farm, donates the first crops of every harvest to food banks and shelters.

“I get a lot of critics out there that tell me, ‘Jason, if you continued to play football, you could’ve made millions of more dollars and you could’ve purchased more food and given it away than what you’re actually doing right now,'” Brown said in a video posted by UNC. “And, yeah, but at the same time, God has called me to be a farmer, and to be on the front lines and to give my heart first. No matter how much money you throw at problems, those problems still persist.”

After leaving the NFL in 2012 — just three years after signing a five-year, $37.5 million contract — Brown learned how to farm from YouTube videos and bought a 1,000-acre farm near Louisburg, N.C.

“If we’re truly going to inspire change,” said Brown, a fourth-round pick in 2005, “if we’re truly going to see change in our food system and in ending hunger, we’re going to have to give our best.”